Re: Magic

From: Sandy Petersen <sandyp_at_idgecko.idsoftware.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 96 13:52:44 -0600


Frank
> I think that killing a person with the disruption spell is just
as natural as >hitting him on the head. i don't think people in glorantha see "natural >healing" ( 1d3 hp/ week) as any more natural than healing through a healing >spell.

David Cake
>you can tell what is magical and what is not by going to the Dead
Place and >seeing if it still works\

	You are right, David.
	Do you think that people heal naturally in the Dead Place?  
I don't. I don't think that children can be engendered there either. Nor can anyone fall in love there (but pre-existing love can persist). I don't think that food retains its full nutritional value there -- and is gradually sapped, the longer it remains. Nor can life even persist for long -- there are no native plants. There are no native animals. I fully expect that a human who dwelt full-time in the Dead Place would wither and die within a year.

        The Dead Place shows us exactly what Glorantha would be like if it had no magic, and it's not much like Earth at all.

>The interesting question, though, is what about sorcery, which
does not require >direct contact with the otherworld?

        It doesn't? I think that it requires otherworld contact on a personal level as firm and real as that of a shaman or a priest. The sorcerer may not be contacting sapient otherworld entities (whether gods or spirits) to get his magic, but he's still using the otherworld -- accessing it on a personal basis, instead of through an intermediary.

Sandy P.


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